On this day in 2006: Courageous SL Fightback in England !

On this day in 2006, Sri Lanka put on a remarkable fight back to draw a Test match against England at Lords.

The team led by Mahela Jayawardena were looking down the barrel at one stage of the match when they were asked to follow-on with a deficit of 359 runs, after they were rattled for 192 in the first Innings. Batting first, England made a mammoth 551/6 before skipper Andrew Flintoff declared.

Sri Lankans were bowled out in their first innings in just 55.3 overs by Lunch on Day 3. With 8 sessions left in the game, nobody gave the Lankans a chance, nobody expected Sri Lanka to walk away with a draw.

Following-on in the 2nd innings, A resolute Sri Lanka batting line up fought back valiantly to bat out 199 overs to score 537/9. With bad light coming in to play in the final day, SL recorded one of their famous fight backs in Test History.

The draw was largely thanks to a masterful 2nd innings century by the Skipper Mahela Jayewardene and a brilliant Never-Say-Die attitude from the lower order.

At the start of the 5th day, Sri Lanka had only 4 wickets in hand with Chamara Kapugedera and T M Dilshan at the crease. Later in the day however, It two courageous innings from the fast bowlers Chaminda Vaas (50*) and Nuwan Kulasekara (64) which ensured Sri Lanka managed to escape with a draw with rain and bad light interrupting play several times on the final day.

In the 2nd match of the series in Birmingham, England came back to win by 9 wickets. Sri Lanka fought back strong with an excellent all-round performance at Trent Bridge to beat England by 134 runs in the 3rd and final Test, where Muralidaran picked up 8 wickets for 70 runs in the final innings of the match.